• The Joy Diet

  • 10 Daily Practices For a Happier Life
  • By: Martha Beck
  • Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
  • Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (247 ratings)

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The Joy Diet  By  cover art

The Joy Diet

By: Martha Beck
Narrated by: Kathe Mazur
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Publisher's summary

Discover a menu of 10 behaviors you can add to your way of living and thinking to enhance every day’s journey through the unpredictable terrain of your existence. Add these behaviors gradually and watch your life become steadily more vivid and satisfying. Or you can go on a “crash Joy Diet” to help you navigate life’s emergencies.

The 10 menu items are:

  • Nothing: Do nothing for 15 minutes a day. Stop mindlessly chasing goals and figure out which goals are worth going after.
  • Truth: Create a moment of truth to help you unmask what you’re hiding - from others and from yourself.
  • Desire: Identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart’s desires - and learn how to let yourself want what you want.
  • Creativity: Learn six new ways to develop at least one new idea to help you obtain your heart’s desire.
  • Risk: Take one baby step toward reaching your goal. The only rule is it has to scare the pants off you.
  • Treats: Give yourself a treat for every risk you take and two treats just because you’re you. No exceptions. No excuses.
  • Play: Take a moment to remember your real life’s work and differentiate it from the games you play to achieve it. Then play wholeheartedly.
  • Laughter: Laugh at least thirty times a day. Props encouraged.
  • Connection: Use your Joy Diet skills to interact with someone who matters to you.
  • Feasting: Enjoy at least three square feasts a day, with or without food.

No matter what your long-term goals are, The Joy Diet, written with Martha Beck’s inimitable blend of wisdom, practical guidance, and humor, will help you achieve the immediate gift of joyful living in the here and now. Begin your journey today.

©2003 Martha Beck (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc., Published By Arrangement with Random House Audio Publishing Group, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Written in a down-to-earth, positive tone, the author's thoughtfully designed exercises, inspirational anecdotes and gentle advice should fall on fertile ground." (Publishers Weekly)
"These prescriptions will be inviting to everyone." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Joy Diet

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Your own therapy session in a book

This is, without a doubt, one of the best self help books that I've ever come across. Be prepared however for some intense learnings that may at first seem un-familiar, unless you have actually been to a therapist/counselor before. This is a high powered therapy session for the masses on tape. Having had formal training as a counselor at the Masters level, I consider the approach used here to be outstanding. This is not however a casual, read it on the beach type book. It requires effort to use these techniques, so if you really don't intend to actually DO anything in the way of improving yourself, then go find The Time Travelers Wife and download it. That one works on the beach.

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31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Get this book!

I based my purchased on the previous reviews and they're right on the nose, this is a great book. Every once in a while I download a winning book I could listen to repeatedly. This is the one.
Positive, insightful and I'm excited to dive in and try the suggested ingredients of the Joy Diet.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Worth reading again

I read this book two years ago and followed the exercises. Since then, I've kept up only a handful of these joyful practices, and yet my life has changed tremendously since! It didn't seem like much was happening at first other than a subtle, pervasive happiness, but OMG, now I'm living such an incredible life. I am now enjoying all the things I longed for then: the career of my dreams, an incredibly loving and intimate marriage, plenty of leisure time. I decided to re-read the book this past few weeks when I set some new goals for myself and am doing a Martha Beck re-read binge. Re-reading this one in particular caused the fine hairs to raise because I could pinpoint how the joy exercises had such a massive and profound impact on my life. Thank you, Martha Beck

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

May be better in ink

I found this book a bit repetitive, and although, the basic principles are probably sound advice, Beck really stretches them out. My interest faded as the chapter wore on. This would probably be best as a long magazine article rather than a book. It may also be better read than listened to, as I wished I had the list of practices to refer to.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Refreshing, Well Worth It.

This book is witty, charming, and full of useful advice. The ten exercises are simple enough to understand and to incorporate into one's life.

I found after the first couple of exercises that my overall life perceptions and views were changing and that my moods were improving.

I highly recommend this wonderfully refreshing book!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

from the 50 books I heard this year - the best!

I love it.
Funny, good deep insight and it helped me a lot :-)

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow!

I’m glad to have found this book! It was great to feel ok with doing self care, enjoying simple things, rituals, gratitude. It’s very thought provoking and I plan to buy the hard copy so I continue with the exercises described. This book is for all of us in all ways. Savor it!!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful book, perfect narrator

Would you listen to The Joy Diet again? Why?

Yes. I am listening a second time now.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Joy Diet?

My son and I both enjoyed the part about giving yourself treats -- and the story of the dog Cookie, who smiles in anticipation of getting a cookie.

Which character – as performed by Kathe Mazur – was your favorite?

n/a. Kathe Mazur has great comic timing and inflection, and she has a friendly voice that's easy to listen to. She's a perfect narrator for a Martha Beck book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It helps to pause and think about each chapter and do the exercises.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Life Method

If you ever find your self in need of a direction, after having tried so many directions, here is much needed direction. As stated in a previous review this is not a beach book, it is one to listen to, read and do your homework with. I highly recommend you purchase the book to reference, there are even on-line work sheets to reference to help put valuable changes into practice. Enjoy the journey. Make the changes.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Very disapointed

Would you try another book from Martha Beck and/or Kathe Mazur?

I was very hopeful about this book. However, the writer quickly lost credibility. I never made it more than half way through this book as the author's characterizations of others seemed so dishonest.

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2 people found this helpful